Good branding will work for you. Think of it like an extra team member, getting you sales, reassuring your customers and educating your audience and encouraging potential leads. It will assist you, however only if you are using it properly. When used well, it helps align you with your audience and brings ease, clarity and […]

Are you looking for some fun ways to make your logo shine? Here are some of my all-time favourites, produced either by me or my clever clients, from the simple and affordable to the likely not seen before.

This is the colour palette of Summer for me. This palette feels like sand dunes, salty air, warm breeze, dried grass and long, quiet nights. It is the time for beach picnics, road trips, linen pants, citronella candles and late night laughter with friends. It’s the time to crank up the pizza ovens and share […]

Spring has definitely sprung! 🌸And after a relentless period of rain and lockdowns, it is more welcome than ever. In our local Gariwerd Aboriginal calendar, it is the season of Petyan, known as the time where the wildflowers bloom. The weather is unpredictable and the bushland comes to life with the warmer days. I soooo […]

I hear it all the time… “yeah, I think my website is fine.” Hmmm, are you really so sure? When I hear someone say their website is “fine” it’s time to cue the big question marks. The bottom line is that if you use the word “fine” (rather than “great”!) it likely needs a bit […]

Winter (and this colour palette) is the glory of warming red wine, fireplaces, down jackets and the allowance of a few more coffees. It is a new pair of cozy wool socks, vivid stars, chocolate, dark moody skies, hot tea and spontaneous snow trips. Mornings often come sheeted in icy crystals. Leaves collect shimmering droplets and the sound of rain on the rooftops hums us to sleep. Some days are still. Others, the wind howls so loudly that my little studio feels like it will take flight. My little mountain town, usually packed with tourists, has surrendered to quiet and stillness and blankets of clouds.

Why, you ask, is a branding designer advising anyone to DIY? Because I get it. Starting a business is hard. I know, I’ve done it! Not everyone is in a position to afford a professional hand-crafted logo strategically designed for their brand, particularly if you are a brand new business. While I strongly believe that branding is one of the best investments a business can make (I have yet to see it NOT pay back many many times over), aaaaaand yes, you are better to do it from the start, you may not be ready to take the leap. If you are just playing around with business ideas, or unsure of which path your new business might take, you may be better waiting to make that investment. If you need a logo or bit of branding to tide you over until that time, I’d like to share a few tips that can make your logo creation process as good as possible.

Perhaps it’s all the wrinkles on my face or my ancient collection of design books, but I am now asked quite a bit how my design journey started. The world seems a different place now, and my headspace has definitely changed, but the dream is still just as fresh. From my first ever design class, I imagined having my own studio.

These are the colours I am seeing outside my studio windows at the moment. For me, it is the time for lattes, scarves, stormclouds, mountain walks and thirsty fields of dried grass. In our local Gariwerd Aboriginal calendar, it is honey bee season (Gwangal Moronn), noted for warm, still days, cool mornings, bright red sunrises and golden evenings. One of my happy places in my job is colour palette work. There is so much interest and beauty in colour, but also a HUGE amount of psychology and strategy in choosing the right palettes for my branding clients.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I would LOVE to be your designer, but I want you to find the right designer (trust me, your designer does too!). I’d really like to help with that! Finding the right designer for can sound intimidating, particularly for big jobs and branding. (I’ve known clients who’ve sat on this decision for years!) Regardless of which designer you choose, I encourage you to decide on a someone with whom you are comfortable, in whose abilities you are confident and whose style you really resonate with.